The Perilous Parlor

[Eemia]

A memory of pleasure passed. A ghostly rendezvous, delight beyond death. Faint echoes of laughter and the distorted music of a harp drift by, along with the scent of soft white pear and sweet vanilla.

Soft, fresh pear and vanilla. Like a decadent dessert but without gagging me with sweetness. It doesn't hit me with an intense fruity brightness either. It's mellow and faded, like it's covered in a layer of gauze. I think it retains the same creamy, dry quality as some of the others in this series. This is a very refined foody scent, more delicate than I expected it to be.

It fades to a nice light vanilla musk. I wish it lasted longer but it disappears pretty quickly. Coupled with the very faint throw and I'm going to have to pile this one on. Still....it's very pretty and I will wear it often.

[angharad]

LOVE. So much love for this. Pear's not usually one of the fruits I think of when I consider the fruit scents I like, but this is definitely YUMMY. It was hard reviewing my other Halloweenie scent that arrived today because my nose kept getting glued to PP's wrist. Imagine a grilled pear with a bowl of vanilla ice cream. The pear's still warm from the grill, and it's making the ice cream melt gooily and get all over it, but the warmth also brings out the lovely scent of the pear so that it's not hidden underneath the vanilla. It's perfection in a bowl -- or in this case, a bottle. The pear doesn't seem to fade much on my skin, and it's lasting for over two hours so far. I absolutely adore this and want to get my hands on much, much more.

[dronzeka]

I got an imp of this for the heck of it, even though I'm not very into pear, but it turns out that the pear in this is lovely, and it's the vanilla that kills it for me. Wet, at first it's very much pear, and it really is rich and lovely and smells like a real pear, not fake pear-ness. Unfortunately, when the vanilla comes out on me (as it does) it turns into that kind of fake vanilla, plastic barbie doll smell. This is the only time I've had this happen to me. Oh well. (On me it has quite decent throw, but then, since I don't like it, it would, wouldn't it? )

[Trish]

Sweet pear, complete with syrup almost from start to finish. The sweetness does subside a little as the vanilla warms up, but the pear still dominates.

 

It's rather nice, but a bit too sweet for me. Actually I'm not really a white fruit person - I'd rather my purple and black fruits thanks! However I will be keeping the decant.

[olympia301]

Beautiful and funny (The PEARilous Parlor). I just love the complexity which is brought out in the pear in a sweet and attractive way. It has a small amount of throw and I think that is just right for such a sweet scent, if it were "loud" it would run the risk of cloying, as it is the strength of it is just perfect and it is a beautiful treat for anyone whom you would want to let into your personal space. Really good.

[Bangles]

This was a long shot - vanilla amps on me and the pear in Quincey Morris vanished, so this stood a good shot of winding up being just single note vanilla. But I gave a decant a shot anyway, and miraculously, this scent is just what I'd hoped for, a sweet and creamy scent of pear and vanilla. It started out almost sugary when wet, and becomes almost musky as it dries down; not too much throw, just a sweet, subtle scent. I think I'm going to order a whole bottle of this one.

[sarahmarie]

This smells very pretty, but my skin sort of messes with it. The pear goes a bit..well, you know how sometimes you get a mealy pear? It kinda made me think of that. On my skin, the pear is very sweet and combines with the other notes in a way that is very light, but still kind of cloying. I don't think I like it, but I think it's my skin's fault.

[ariosa]

Oh. I think... I think that I must order this. Because it's lovely and warm and creamy and rich! I am a huge fan of BPAL's pear -- and the Perilous Parlor does not disappoint. I smell something spicy there, on top of the vanilla, but I don't know what it is. At any rate, I want to eat my arm.

[maribouquet]

Wet, this is wonderfully yummy, not-too-sweet pear. That lasts for about 30 seconds and then fades as the vanilla takes over.

 

Now here is something interesting: BPAL vanilla hates me. Haaaaates me. All blends I've tried eventually turn to a yucky, plasticky and/or yeasty smell. Even my beloved TKO, in which I don't mind the plastic stage because I'm usually asleep by then anyhow.

 

The first time I tried Perilous Parlor was no exception - immediately grossly malformed vanilla smell.

 

But I tried it again this morning and the vanilla teeters on the edge of yuck for a bit, and then miraculously becomes a soft, dessert vanilla, like ice cream or vanilla pudding. It's not too sweet, it's not too in-your-face vanilla...it's just soft and nice, and I imagine I can even pick up a bit of the pear still.

 

Could this be the one scent that not only makes vanilla work for me, but smells *better* during my period? (/tmi) I'm keeping my decant, and if this continues to be awesome, then I may have to get a bottle for that one week out of four when I need something delicious and happy-making.

[kisha]

This smells like sweet (real) pear. I detect a hint of the vanilla too. As it dries it mellows down to a slightly sweet & fruity with an almost powdery scent on me.

 

I wore this for the first time today and got 2 "boy something smells good" and 4 "OMG! You smell delicious!!!", completely unsolicited. I'm getting more.

Edited October 16, 2007 by kisha

[Babylon]

Oh noes!!! My skins have ruined it!

 

Wet: Vanilla pear ice cream. Freakin delicious.

 

Dry: The vanilla turned plastic as it dried!! WTF, this has never happened before with any BPAL vanilla, and I'm so disappointed. It drowned out the pear even and became Plastic Single Note. Ouch!

[Dymphna]

In the imp: This smells like one of those syrupy fruit-scented drugstore body sprays. Not really liking it, but everyone seems to love it so maybe it'll bloom on my skin. Maybe? Hopefully?

 

Wet: Hmm, okay, I'm smelling the vanilla. It's very sweet, and kind of candle-like. It reminds me of Sugar Cookie, super-sweet but very generic and a little waxy.

 

Dry: Kind of buttery. Like butter and vanilla mixed together. I don't really know if I like it. Hmm. Nope, don't like it.

 

Trying this a few days later (for reasons of hormonal fluctuations, and you know what I mean), I found that, once dry, it also has a powdery scent that reminds me of some brand of scented toilet paper I remember from childhood. I know that's a weird (and unflattering, but what can you do, that's skin chemistry) association, but it's a very clear memory. My mom always got the plain kind, but sometimes when I had to use the bathroom at someone else's house, I'd find this very powdery/perfumey-smelling toilet paper and be amazed that there was such a thing. Once dry on my wrist, this scent has that same papery, powdery, perfumey scent.

[squirrelmonkey]

Oh, love!

 

In the bottle -- sirupy pear with sweet vanilla. Yum.

 

Wet -- pear and vanilla ice-cream! It has a creamy sweetness, but stays pretty light.

 

Dry -- pear is gone, but vanilla that lingers behind is just divine. It's very delicate and creamy, in Underpants kind of way. It lingers very faintly for a good while. But definitely can be slathered, which is a good thing.

[ayelienne]

The Perilous Parlor smells like orange circus peanuts to me

[cranberry]

Wet: pears! Sweet, sweet, pears!

 

Dry: the straight pear scent is offset pretty quick with sweet vanilla. As it wears the vanilla becomes stronger. I think this is the vanilla from Snake Charmer. Oh, this is really good. I wasn’t expecting to like this one but this is really good. At this stage, it’s mostly vanilla but here and there a bit of pear will peek through. After it’s been on a while, if I wasn’t paying attention I could almost confuse this with Blood Mary – it’s got that sweet, soft, fluffy vanilla smell. Very nice!

[northatlantic]

The Perilous Parlor smells like orange circus peanuts to me

 

Okay, I had to quote this, because I got the exact same thing. For a few minutes wet, it smelled like the baked pears that people were talking about in earlier reviews, but as soon as it dried, I was like "what does this smell like? It smells like SOMETHING I know, but definitely not pears. Or vanilla...circus peanuts! It smells like candy circus peanuts!"

 

A pleasant nostalgic moment, but not something I care to smell like. Two of my officemates love it, though, so my decant quickly found a better home and at least one of them is planning to order a bottle.

[pugmom]

delicate pear taking a back seat to creamy vanilla. Lovely, my personal tastes would have liked a more "bright" pear scent, but I can see the appeal. I think it works well when you want something delicate and creamy. It has lasted a very long time without morphing much after the initial drydown.

 

verdict - will keep bottle, probably will not need second though.

[aleciarivas]

:sigh: Yummy!!!

Soft and delicate- DEFINITELY pear and vanilla, and I quite frankly smell nothing more. If it's there then it's hiding well!! But what a perfect scent! I wore this yesterday for the first time to a dinner party and kept getting "what's that your cooking that smells so GOOD?" before I realized it was me and not the cooking they were smelling!!!

 

Very soft and gentle. And yummy to a tee.

[steffanina]

The Perilous Parlor-

 

In Bottle: Acetone with a hint of pear. Like great-smelling nail polish remover.

 

Wet: Faint, fruity, and head-rush-y acetone.

 

Dry: Fades away in wisps of sweet acetone.

 

Overall: Not noxious but not very exciting for me either.

[ACVail24]

The Haunted House: The Perilous Parlor

 

In the Bottle:

Almost nothing but sharp vanilla.

There's a touch of something juicy, but in the bottle, it's very hard to determine what it might be...

 

On my Skin, Wet:

Pears!! Luscious, scrumptious, crisp fresh pears!! with a dusting of vanilla sugar on top!

DIVINE!

 

On my Skin, Dry:

Luscious pears and decandent vanilla!

this is wonderful! Absolutely fantastic!

it's like a magical outdoor marketplace where they only specialize in fresh, crisp green pears and only work with the perfected vanilla beans to make the entire block smell glorious.

 

Verdict:

Love Love LOVE

this blend has the perfect combination of freshness and warmth...

the pears are the finest specimens the earth has to offer, and the vanilla is so thick and rich that it's almost an amber - not quite but almost.

 

Edited October 24, 2007 by Akurarei

[vividdreamer]

First sniff out of the bottle and I smell pears. No vanilla, just crisp, green, juicy pears. After applying, I can sense the vanilla coming out to play, and the two scents--vanilla and pear, for there is nothing else in this blend that I can tell--intertwine beautifully. After a few minutes, the vanilla takes over a bit, and I'm aware of the "plastic" smell that others have mentioned, though it doesn't really bother me. This one stays close to the skin...it has little, if any, throw at all. However, it manages to keep from being too foody--it's much more perfume-y/gourmand to my nose. After awhile it morphs to a warm vanilla that is very nice in a skin scent kind of way. I wish it was stronger...or that I had an extra bottle so that I could slather at will. Ah, well. It's quite lovely and I'll have no trouble using up my bottle!

[wikkidraven]

this was loads of fresh pear with smooth vanilla, then faint pear and boozy vanilla, and then very faint slightly boozy vanilla with hardly any pear left to the scent at all.

 

i want to love it, so i will see what happens on a second test

[Mamacat]

I expected to want to hoard many bottles of this scent.

 

Wet: vanilla-ish and fruity. Kind of syrupy.

On: hmmm . . . not what I expected at all. Syrup goes a touch candle-like on me. Not too much vanilla.

Dry: Wow. On me, this oil dries down to the scent of the interior of our '89 Corolla plus air freshener. Too weird.

 

This is the first vanilla scent that has turned on me. That's okay! I have plenty of others to adore!

[ND¢]

The pear doesn't last on me, which is a disappointment, but it is a lovely, albeit incredibly delicate, smell. a whiff of pear which vanishes almost immediately, leaving a sweet soft vanilla breath against my skin. Of course I'm buying bottles because it's so angelic.

[fortytricks]

I wasn't sure about this one since I tend to like incense, resins, and stronger notes, but it's just so soft and pretty. I didn't get a lot sniffing from the bottle at all. (It rather alarmed me. I thought maybe the bottle was mislabeled. Where was all this wonderful pear I'd heard about?) Wet on my skin, the scent comes out-very soft, fresh pear and vanilla. On me it dries down to a light, sweet musk that lingers for hours-serious staying power on this one. Not a lot of throw, but a delight every time I raise my wrist to my nose. It's not my usual fare, but I'll be keeping it for those days when I want something warm and light.